In Re Data General Corp. Antitrust Litigation

OPINION AND ORDER

In this exceedingly difficult and complex antitrust litigation involving the legality of certain tying arrangements utilized by defendant, Data General Corporation (“Data General”), in marketing its computer equipment, a jury rendered a verdict for plaintiffs, Fairchild Camera and Instrument Corporation and Digidyne Corporation, after a forty-five day trial limited to the single issue of whether Data General possessed sufficient economic power in the relevant market for the tying product (operating systems software) appreciably to restrain competition in the relevant market for the tied product (central processing units). Defendant has moved for judgment non obstante veredicto or, in the alternative, for a new trial, and plaintiffs have moved for an injunction and for a trial on the issue of damages. After a painstaking review of the voluminous evidence in this case, the Court grants defendant’s motion for judgment non obstante veredicto or, in the alternative, for a new trial, and denies plaintiffs’ motion for an injunction and for a trial on the issue of damages.

I

A

Data General manufactures and markets various computer systems, including a central…